2014-12-25

【Aiden in English】

        Every year, there is a time for celebration and it’s called Christmas. People have fun, relax, and enjoy this time of year. So in celebration of Christmas, Mom took me to Longwood Gardens in PA, a place where nature rules.

        Longwood Gardens are famous for their nature, and also the lights on Christmas. There is a conservatory like a green house. It’s packed with different kinds of flowers, trees, ferns, and vines. There is almost any kind of flowers in amazing colors I can think of. 

        In fact, I even imagined that the entire place looked like a rainbow trapped in a glass building. Poinsettia, firebush, scarlet sage, and many more lined the floor, while exotic species sat on walls or crazy flowers hung from ceilings. I saw many plants I’d never even realized that existed on earth. One of them was a red tubular flower that had four pedals, each shaped similarly to a petunia native to China and Kazakhstan. On and on, Mom and I walked through the green house, which appeared to go on forever. At last, we seemed to be getting somewhere when we found an extension off Exhibition Hall to Orangery, Mediterranean Garden, Palm House, Tropical Terrance, Silver Garden, and etc. As the passage winded and twisted, we saw more and more flowers. It was hard to imagine the time people had to spend planting a variety of flowers four seasons around. There was no end to them. Reds, yellows, blues, greens, violets, and all the colors seemed like a blur. Roses, lavenders, hibiscuses, camellias, cactuses, orchids, orange trees, pineapples, bananas……

        Finally, we went out to the cold Christmas air. The next thing that I had been looking forward to was lights that Longwood Gardens always had. When the sky grew dark, lights from about every plant outdoors lit up, brightening the dark night sky with different types of colors. Giant Christmas trees with ornaments of every kind dazzled and gleamed everywhere. All was calm and all was bright. Enormous oak trees had beaming lights wrapped around their gigantic trunks. People poured into here for this very moment, knowing it became once in a year experience and would be over in a flash. There were Christmas trees floating on the platforms in the middle of the Large Lake with shining lights, but the dazzling attraction was the reflection on the water. It seemed brighter than the tree itself and rippled with the water. Christmas music played as the holiday atmosphere continued to rise and rise. With the atmosphere, my spirit rose too. 

        This Christmas, I may have not expected to get any present. However, this trip to Longwood Gardens was much more than a present to me.

【红霞译文】

        每年圣诞节都是普天同庆的日子，人们笑逐颜开，尽情享受节日的快乐，为此妈妈特意带我去宾州颇具自然风貌的杜邦花园即长木公园欢度节日。

        杜邦花园犹以自然园林著称，当然圣诞节彩灯装饰同样引人注目；其室内展厅如同温室花房，各种单双子叶花卉草木本藤蕨类植物应有尽有，还有许多奇花异草完全超出我个人的想象力。

        实际上，如此浩大的室内展厅宛如一道氤氲弥漫的彩虹笼罩玻璃房：一品红、长隔木、一串红等遍地开放，国色天香的稀有品种依墙而立，妍姿妖艳的花卉悬空高挂，有些植物我今生今世从未见过，甚至根本没听说过，其中就有这么一株轮状红花由四瓣花冠组成，长得类似矮牵牛花，原产于中国及哈萨克斯坦。我们边转边看，有种永远走不到头的感觉。等好不容易走出主馆，我们又先后浏览了橘园、地中海花园、棕榈屋、热带平原、银海花园等。连接各园的走廊曲径通幽，各种各样的花卉一一映入眼帘，禁不住让我感叹那些为种花养草植树付出艰辛劳动的园艺工人，这么多东西一年四季怎么整得完哇。红黄蓝绿紫五彩缤纷，看得眼花缭乱，玫瑰、薰衣草、秋葵、山茶花、仙人掌、兰花、橘子树、菠萝、香蕉……，层出不穷。

        最后，我们终于置身户外，现场感受今晚稍带凉意的圣诞节气息。我一直向往圣诞节夜灯，而杜邦花园从不会令人失望。当夜幕降临，火树银花万盏齐放，驱散了黑暗，把整个夜空映照得五光十色。挺拔的圣诞树个个披上节日盛装，万暗中光华射；高大的橡树浑身上下电灯泡竞相绽放。游客们络绎不绝，都是为了亲眼目睹这一年一度稍纵即逝的盛况美景。在大湖区中央水面上漂浮着不少圣诞树，树影婆娑，倒映湖中，看上去水下部分反倒比水上部分还要明亮。圣诞乐曲喧染了节日气氛，同时也激发了我高涨热情。

        今年圣诞节中，我并不期待得到任何节日礼物；然而对我来说，杜邦花园之行不是节日礼物却胜似节日礼物。